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Monday, September 12, 2011

Creative Arts Emmys 2011

And thus Emmy Week commences here at The Entertainment Junkie.

That's right, folks, the Primetime Emmys are next Sunday night, and just this past Saturday night the Creative Arts Emmys were held. This is the one where all of the technical awards are handed out, as well as the guest-acting Emmys that I included in my nominations post two months ago. Since the two shows are split up like this, the Creative Arts Emmys are a good barometer for making final guesses as to how the Primetime Emmys will go. So let's take a look at a few of the key things that happened this year.

Mad Men's Best Drama Series reign may be in jeopardy. The show is gunning to become the fourth show to win four Drama Series prizes (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and The West Wing are the others), but it only received one prize this weekend, for Best Hairstyling. Boardwalk Empire, on the other hand, seems to be the darling, took home seven, easily the highest tally for the night. With many believing that the Drama Series race is between Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire (though I can still see Game of Thrones pulling the upset), it would appear that the latter has established a clear lead at this point.

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Speaking of Game of Thrones, it won Best Main Title Sequence for it's opening credits. They really are sensational, and completely deserving.

I still can't figure out how they could ignore Archer in the animated categories - not one single nomination! - but at least Futurama came back to great acclaim, winning Animated Program and Voiceover Performance for Maurice LaMarche.

Let's talk about guest-acting. Justin Timberlake took home the prize for Guest Comedy Actor for his gig hosting Saturday Night Live, which he already had a trophy for (he won in 2009 as well). This whole focus-on-acting thing seems to be working out for him, though he seems to be best on the small-screen. Can we get the guy a variety show of his own, please?

Gwyneth Paltrow is now an Emmy winner, taking home Guest Comedy Actress for her role as Holly Holliday on Glee (which you can read about here). I thought for sure they'd spring for Cloris Leachman (who was in every episode of Raising Hope, so I fail to see how she's a guest), but good on Gwynnie for bringing it home. And with that, she's halfway to EGOT.

Paul McCrane won Guest Drama Actor. First off, I'm very disappointed that they didn't go with the great Jeremy Davies for Justified, who was just so terrific this year. And I'm surprised that they didn't go with Michael J. Fox for The Good Wife either, as he's one of Emmy's favorite actors and he was supposedly very good in his stint. Instead, Harry's Law is now an Emmy-winning show. As I stated on Twitter, this is why we can't have nice things.

In a loaded category, Loretta Devine won Guest Drama Actress for Grey's Anatomy. And how great is she? The world really needs more of her. It's also the first time in a while the show has won a higher-profile Emmy, which is probably what it needed at this point in its run. However, it does hurt a little to see dear Miss Blankenship (Randee Heller, Mad Men) depart without an Emmy.

As for miniseries/TV movie, Mildred Pierce and The Kennedys were the big winners with three apiece, which seems to be setting them up as the ones to beat in that race.

Also of note: Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland took home Best Nonfiction Director for Josh Fox, so congrats to him.

That's all for now. A full list of winners can be seen here. This week, keep an eye out for previews for the Primetime Emmys in drama, comedy, and miniseries/TV movie. Get excited!